


Help them!

by make_your_user_a_name



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A little, Angst, Case Fic, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, One Shot, Spooky, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, but fall, cuz why not, im posting some ficlets and drabbles on archive, it's really just fluff i promise, jk, oh shit i need more tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26550460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/make_your_user_a_name/pseuds/make_your_user_a_name
Summary: “Help them! They can’t breathe!”The shout rang across the park and Dean immediately looked up, trying to find the source. Before he could, Cas was grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the sound.Underneath a tree, crouched in the wet leaves, was a little girl. Her eyes were rimmed with red and tears streaked her face. As Dean watched she clutched desperately at the ground, digging into the damp earth.He knelt next to her and put a soft hand on her shoulder, looking up at Cas with raised eyebrows. “Hey,” he said gently.She shot up and backed into the tree, her hands raised. She took a few deep breaths, glancing between Dean and the angel, and then ran a shaky hand through her hair.“They can’t breathe,” she repeated, her voice barely a whisper.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	Help them!

“Help them! They can’t breathe!”  
The shout rang across the park and Dean immediately looked up, trying to find the source. Before he could, Cas was grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the sound.  
Underneath a tree, crouched in the wet leaves, was a little girl. Her eyes were rimmed with red and tears streaked her face. As Dean watched she clutched desperately at the ground, digging into the damp earth.   
He knelt next to her and put a soft hand on her shoulder, looking up at Cas with raised eyebrows. “Hey,” he said gently.   
She shot up and backed into the tree, her hands raised. She took a few deep breaths, glancing between Dean and the angel, and then ran a shaky hand through her hair.   
“They can’t breathe,” she repeated, her voice barely a whisper.   
“What happened?” Cas said, his eyes narrowing as he stepped forward.  
“They can’t breathe!” she shouted before sprinting away.   
“Shit,” Dean muttered. He considered taking off after her, but decided a middle-aged guy chasing a crying girl through the park probably wasn’t the best move.  
Instead he turned to Cas and spread his hands. “What the hell man?” 

Cas lifted his shoulders almost imperturbably then glanced at his feet. He took a knee and thoughtfully ran his hands over the tangle of grass, dirt, and leaves. After a minute, he straightened up and lifted his hand toward Dean. 

As he got closer, Dean could see a tarnished silver ring on the angel’s palm. “So, what? Cursed object? Shouldn’t you not be touching that?” 

Cas sighed and Dean rolled his eyes. He’d turned the angel into quite the drama-queen over the years. “It is cursed. I can feel it. But it won’t affect me.” 

“Right…” 

Suddenly Cas’ eyes lit up and he straightened, staring at the sky. When he looked back at Dean, his eyes were haunted and lost, every ounce of control lost from his face. Dean felt a shiver run up his spine. He’d never seen Cas look like this unless one of them was on their deathbed. 

“Hey, buddy, you okay?” 

Cas didn’t respond, just looked straight ahead, his blue eyes glassy and pained. 

Dean put his hands on the angel’s shoulders and shook him a little. 

“Hey! Cas, what’s going on, man?” 

Cas tilted his head slowly then held up his hands and slipped the ring onto his pinky finger. “They can’t breathe.” Dean’s heart froze in his chest. Because that wasn’t Cas’ voice. It was filtered, almost electronic. And it grated against him with every syllable. 

“Cas… drop the ring.” 

The angel looked him over curiously before a cold smile came over his face. Then he turned to walk away. Dean lunged forward, grabbing his shoulder to whirl him around, but before he could, Cas reached out and blasted him back, his head hitting the tree.

“Fuck,” he managed to squeeze out. Then everything went black. 

When he finally came to and sat up, wet leaves clung to his cheeks and he pulled them off. He rubbed his head and grabbed his phone.

“Sam.”

“Dean, what the hell is going on? You and Cas have been gone for hours. I get you need your alone time but give me some warning I’ve been freaking out and neither of you have been answering your phones.” 

“Cas is gone, Sammy.” 

There was a pause on the other line and he could almost see Sam’s eyes narrowing, his brows angling down. 

“What do you mean? Is he okay? Are you? Did you guys get in a fight or something?” 

Dean brushed himself off and started walking back toward where they’d parked the car. “No, we’re fine, Sam. Well, Cas isn’t fine. He touched some sort of cursed object.” 

“You’re saying this is a case?” 

“I guess.” As he yanked open the Impala’s door, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned. The little girl from earlier was staring at him, hands in her pockets. She couldn’t have been more than nine or ten, but from the way she held herself you would think she was an adult. 

“I gotta go. Get here, I’ll call you back.” Dean hung up without waiting for an answer and crouched down to be at the girl’s eye level.

“Hey, are you okay?” 

“Yes,” she said, her voice small. “I don’t know where I am. Can you help me?”

Dean’s eyebrows shot into his hair and he frowned. So, the curse didn’t stay with the victim once it was passed to someone else. Good to know. 

“Where are your parents?”

The girl took in a shaky breath and glanced around nervously. “I don’t know.”

“Hey, that’s okay. Why don’t you tell me your name?”

“I’m Julia,” she said, her chin coming up a little. 

“Alright, Julia. Do you remember how you got here?” 

“It took me.”

“It?” Dean shifted slightly, falling back onto his heels. His thighs were starting to cramp. “You mean the ring?”

She nodded wordlessly, her mouth set in a grim line. 

“What did it want?” 

“It wanted me to save them.” 

“Who did it want you to save, Julia?” Dean asked. 

“The people that drowned. If I didn’t save them,” she shivered as a cool Fall breeze blew through the parking lot and Dean shrugged off his jacket as she continued, “then it was going to kill me.”

Dean tried to stay calm. Tried not to show the panic that swept through him. Because he could handle a lot of things, but losing the love of his life wasn’t one of them. 

He wrapped his jacket around the girl’s shoulders and pulled out his phone. “You’re okay now. Do you know your parent’s phone number?” 

She nodded and gave it to him, and before long he’d called them and they were on their way to pick her up. As they drove away, still shaking from the shock of almost losing their daughter, Sam pulled into the parking lot. 

And that’s when Dean let the panic fill him. His hands shook slightly as he told Sam everything that had happened, and he longed for a bottle of whiskey to drown out some of the noise. 

“He’s gonna be fine, Dean. She said the people that drowned, right? Let’s go over to that big lake near here and look around. Cas can’t have gotten far on foot, and that’s pretty close.”

Dean nodded, but he wasn’t really listening. His eyes were fixed on the tree in the park, the tree where Cas had disappeared. 

“Dean,” Sam said, reaching out to shake his brother. 

“I’m good,” Dean breathed in deeply, then repeated, “I’m good. Let’s go.” 

The drive was short, and by the time they reached the lake Dean had steadied himself. Cas was an angel. Nothing bad was going to happen to his angel. 

When they pulled up, they were greeted with a scene eerily similar to their pass. Dean watched in horror as Cas waded into the water, spreading his arms wide as his trench coat pooled around him. 

“Cas!” he shouted, sprinting across the small field that separated the lake from the parking lot. He felt Sam beside him, but his eyes were fixed straight ahead. 

When he reached the edge of the water, he barely broke stride, lifting his legs to avoid tripping. 

Cas didn’t respond to his shouts, just continued walking into the depths. 

When he reached him, he tackled him from behind, pulling him backwards. Which, in hindsight was not the best idea in waist deep water. 

They both went under, and Dean flailed around, his eyes open in the murk to see Cas resurface next to him. He pulled himself out into the frigid air and went after Cas again. This time, he grabbed at his hand. It was slippery and cold to touch, but Cas only resisted minimally Dean pulled the ring from the angel’s finger. 

Cas’ eyes widened immediately, but he still didn’t say anything. Dean felt a whisper in the back of his mind, urging him to put the ring on, but he pushed it back and looked back to the shore for Sam. 

“Sammy,” he shouted, throwing the ring across the water toward Sam. It glittered briefly in the air as the fading afternoon sun caught it, and then it stopped in outstretched hands. 

Cas had started shaking, and he muttered over and over “They can’t breathe. I have to help them. They couldn’t breathe.” Dean pulled him into a hug, gripping the back of his neck as he watched Sam fumble desperately with a lighter. 

“Hurry it up, Sam!” he shouted as Cas tried to take another step further into the lake. 

Suddenly there was a blue flash on the ground and then orange flames licking up toward Sam. They burned green for a minute, and then went out entirely. 

Cas had stopped shaking in his arms and Dean pulled out of the hug, one arm on Cas’ shoulder and one reaching up to cup his face. 

“Cas? You okay, man?” 

The angel cleared his throat and tilted his head. “I’m fine, Dean.” 

Dean let out a pent up breath and pulled Cas’ head toward him for a short kiss. 

“It won’t affect me,” he quoted, rolling his eyes.

Cas narrowed his eyes and gave him a bitchface that rivaled Sam’s before pushing Dean backwards into the lake. 

He came up sputtering to see Cas smirking at him and Sam laughing on the shore. 

“You asshole.” He sloshed toward the angel, determined to get payback, but Cas caught him and pulled him into a warm embrace first. 

“Yeah, you love me,” Cas whispered in his ear. 

“I do. And you’re an asshole.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :) comments and kudos>>>
> 
> [tumblr](https://tearsofgrace.tumblr.com/)


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